A cross-sectional analysis of undergraduate medical student attitudes towards interprofessional education

No abstract available

Called to Serve: Understanding the Role of the Woman’s Mission Decision Narrative in Latter-Day Saint Culture and Belief

In my thesis I explore the role of mission decision narratives of women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Before 2012, women could not serve missions until age 21. Once the minimum age was changed to 19 in October of 2012, many more women were able to serve on mission as the opportunity was less likely to disrupt their education or romantic relationships. In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, missions are seen as a priesthood duty for men but a matter of choice for women. This ability to choose and the narrative that follows plays an important role for women and the church overall. The question “How did you decide to serve a mission?” is a relatively frequently asked question of Latter-day Saint women and the story that follows is indicative of the view women have of themselves and their relationship with God. Many women struggle greatly looking for the answer and this very struggle can serve as the genesis of their tangible identity in the church and can come to define their spiritual identity. My thesis discusses the scholarly work that relates to personal revelation narratives and Latter-day Saint folklore in general. I highlight Tom Mould’s pivotal work and discuss the space in which my research fits and creates new understanding of Latter-day Saint women and culture. I then present my research in which I interviewed seven women who served missions after October 2012. I analyzed themes and ideas expressed in these interviews, seeking out common patterns and seeming anomalies. Each woman that I interviewed was fairly different in personality and temperament, yet there were common threads between all of them. Each struggled to make the decision, many received timely and oracle-like advice from family members or friends. Ultimately, I have found that these stories are an important way to acknowledge a space in which women exist in the church and in which their identities are created and celebrated. It is vital to understand that the decision to go on a mission is not just a momentary experience but a reflection of what a religious community cares about and how religious beliefs are put into action by women who believe them

Mr. Richard Terrence on Education and Employment

Mr. Richard Terrence Full Interview Richard Tarrence was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1945, the second-oldest of seven siblings. His parents moved to Ohio from the South in the 1930s; his maternal grandfather was a bishop in the AME church, and his paternal grandfather was a sharecropper. He was drafted in 1965 and spent four years in the Air Force, including time in Vietnam. He married his ex-wife, Loretta Wilson, who was from Maine, and they moved to Portland in 1975. He completed a degree in Criminal Justice at USM in 1979, and spent twenty-two years working for Allstate Insurance. The family lived in Portland, South Portland, and eventually settled in Gorham. At the time of this interview, Tarrence was the chairman of the board of Green Memorial AME Zion Church, and was involved with the Health 2000 AIDS awareness program there. Quote Transcript: “There is no question that my upbringing and my background is a solid rock in my life. I mean, my mother’s words of wisdom, my father—very gentle people. Very loving and honest people, and they had a drive and a stick-to-it-iveness that I inherited obviously. I’ve never been one to waver a lot. You see that from my job histories; I stay on one job, pretty loyal to that. I just taught my kids to maintain a course, to not fight back in anger, but to fight back if threatened or injured or something like that.”https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/we5quotes/1016/thumbnail.jp

Mr. Richard Terrence on Leisure

Interviewer: Rachel Talbot-Ross Interviewee: Mr. Richard Terrence (age 57; born 1945 in Cleveland, Ohio; moved to Maine in October 1975) “And, you know, raising my children is interesting in that as they grew older and as they noticed the very differences, they were starting to mix in very well. They were making friends, and, you know, they were involved in sporting activities and community.”https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/we4_leisurequotes/1005/thumbnail.jp

The 2014 Victorian State Election

Victoria is earning a reputation for producing surprising election results. According to political commentators and the opinion polls, the 1999 election was expected to return the Coalition Government and the 2010 election was expected to return the Labor Government, yet neither did. Even though the polls had long placed Labor ahead of the Coalition, the party’s election to office at the 2014 election was still regarded as a significant outcome. This was because of the removal of the Coalition Government after only one term in power, when history has shown us that governments in Victoria are often likely to consolidate their position at their first return to the ballot box. It had been more than half a century since Victoria experienced a single term government, in 1952-55, and it was a casualty of the split of the Australian Labor Party. It should be noted however, that the close numbers in the Legislative Assembly in the last Parliament — 44 Coalition, 43 Labor and one Independent, and the redistribution of the state’s electoral boundaries, meant that Labor required a notional uniform swing of only around 1 per cent to gain government. The election result was that Labor secured government by obtaining a total of 47 seats in the 88 seat Parliament with a swing of 3.6 per cent on a two-party preferred basis. This election is also historic for the election of two representatives of the Greens Party into the Legislative Assembly: the first time the party has won seats in the Lower House in Victoria. Also, notable, was the election of an Independent in what had been a very safe National Party seat (Shepparton). The make-up of the Legislative Council after the election was also significantly changed. Neither of the major parties won a majority in the Upper House, and the Greens and four other minor parties won ten seats between them. As stated earlier, this paper provides a description and analysis of the results the 2014 Victorian state election, set out in three main sections. Part A of the paper provides some context to the outcome of the election by examining the redistribution of Victoria’s state electoral boundaries, and key issues during the life of the 57th Parliament. Part B of the paper provides an overview of the election campaign, the leaders’ debate, preference deals, social media, key policies, and polls data in the lead up to, and during the campaign. This section also includes a brief overview of the minor parties. Part C of the paper examines the outcomes of the election in both houses and how the parties fared. It also contains a short section on women MPs, new and departing MPs, voter turnout, and the number of candidates contesting the election. Part C also provides statistical tables for each district and region and additional tables and information on relevant voter statistics

Comparison of research framing preferences and information use of state legislators and advocates involved in cancer control, United States, 2012–2013

INTRODUCTION: Evidence-based policy plays an important role in prevention of cancer and other chronic diseases. The needs of actors involved in policy decision-making should inform knowledge translation strategies. This study examines the differences between state legislators and advocates in how they seek and use information and what their preferences are for how research information is framed. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional comparison of survey responses by US advocates (n = 77) and state legislators (n = 265) working on issues related to cancer control. RESULTS: Advocates differed significantly from legislators on all demographic characteristics. Advocates reported seeking and using information more frequently than legislators, though legislators used legislative research bureaus more often (0.45 point difference, P = .004). Both legislators and advocates prioritized the presentation and timeliness of research information similarly but reported different preferences for source (information bias, information relevance, delivery of information by trusted person) of research information. Several differences between advocates and legislators were modified by participant age. CONCLUSION: Our study provides insights for development of knowledge translation strategies to enhance evidence-based policy making for cancer control that are tailored to state-level legislators and advocates. Additional research efforts should evaluate the effectiveness of such knowledge translation strategies, particularly among advocates

A brain-wave equation incorporating axo-dendritic connectivity

We introduce an integral model of a two-dimensional neural field that includes a third dimension representing space along a dendritic tree that can incorporate realistic patterns of axo-dendritic connectivity. For natural choices of this connectivity we show how to construct an equivalent brainwave partial differential equation that allows for effcient numerical simulation of the model. This is used to highlight the effects that passive dendritic properties can have on the speed and shape of large scale traveling cortical waves